Tag Archives: Tortured By Alcoholics Anonymous Members

Warning: This story contains graphic material that may disturb some readers.

This poor man who was attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, had no idea how his life would change forever by befriending a man he met at the Toronto AA meeting. He invited John Siscoe back to his home to celebrate New Year’s Eve with his wife to share chips and pop. John Siscoe had a criminal record and drug and alcohol issues while attending AA. Probably court mandated no doubt. The horror that ensued is very hard to read. Let this be a wake-up call to those that think AA meetings are just a benevolent group, lovingly supporting one another. There is a very dark side to Alcoholics Anonymous that people need to be warned about. This man was tortured and nearly lost his life. It is considered one of the most heinous crimes in Toronto’s history! All by an Alcoholics Anonymous Member.

Update- It was Jan Foster and Robert Canavan that went to the police to report their concerns. Thank goodness they did!

Man brutally tortured by his wife and her boyfriend in Toronto apartment

Tortured mercilessly by his own wife and her new boyfriend, victim was too broken to escape

Toronto Star

Jayme Poisson, Liam Casey Fri Jan 13 2012

John Michael Siscoe, 40, and the victim’s wife, 30, quietly pleaded guilty earlier this week in the Superior Court of Justice to a slew of charges, including endangering a life and sexual assault causing bodily harm.

It took 75 minutes Thursday for Crown Attorney Paul Leishman to read aloud in court the 25 pages detailing one of the most heinous crimes in Toronto’s history — one man, confined to a closet and brutally tortured, physically, sexually and psychologically, over the course of three months.

His body cut with razor blades and beaten with hammers and broom handles until they broke. Lighter fluid poured over his skin, and then set on fire. Cartilage ripped from his ears with a pair of pliers. Pins pierced through his lips, sealing his mouth. Bleeding wounds cauterized with hot knives or sewn up with a needle and thread.

Those responsible for the horrific abuse were the man’s own wife and her new boyfriend. The location was a cramped one-bedroom basement apartment in the city’s west end.

John Michael Siscoe, 40, and the victim’s wife, 30, quietly pleaded guilty earlier this week in the Superior Court of Justice to a slew of charges, including endangering a life and sexual assault causing bodily harm, from Oct. 31, 2009 until police rescued the man on Jan. 19, 2010.

Responding to a call from concerned area residents, they found the victim huddled in the dark bedroom closet, naked, shivering, malnourished and with grotesque wounds.

He had five fractured ribs, two collapsed lungs, facial fractures, abrasions and burns all over his body. Pictures taken after he was found show what resembles a man’s face, but black, blue and bloated to three times its normal size. His eyes were swollen shut as pus and plasma oozed from his wounds.

On Thursday afternoon, as the agreed-upon “horrible litany of facts” was read out, only a handful of people were in the courtroom at 361 University Ave.

They heard a story of a victim whose spirit was so broken that he never tried to escape and who, even when rescued, continued to protect his torturers.

The court ordered a ban on publication of anything that would tend to identify the victim, who is still legally married to the woman in the dock. At the time of the abuse all three were living together in Toronto and she was pregnant with Siscoe’s child.

The story started back in 2005, in a small town southeast of Vancouver. The victim and his wife married in a back yard civil ceremony. Pictures from a Facebook account reveal a smiling couple surrounded by family. They lived off disability insurance — she handled the bills while he cooked.

Starting in 2008, the relationship soured. She was unfaithful and took to the Internet to chat with other men. In December of that year, at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, the victim met Siscoe, a short, solid man with jet black hair, prior convictions and a history of drug and alcohol abuse. They became acquaintances and he invited Siscoe to spend New Year’s Eve with him and his wife.